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China-based PV manufacturer Hareon Solar said that its initial Phase 1 160MW solar cell production plant in India was part of more ambitious plans to establish a 1GW state-of-the-art solar cell facility in a joint venture with Indian firm Dalmia Group.

Chinese PV manufacturer Hareon Solar plans to set up a 160MW cell production project in India through its wholly owned-subsidiary Hareon Solar Power along with Keshav Power, an arm of business conglomerate Dalmia.

Swiss/Hungarian silicon thin-film equipment and technology firm Ecosolifer has been reported to be planning an 80MW module assembly plant in Brazil, using its proprietary amorphous silicon deposition technology on monocrystalline wafers produced at its plant in Csorna, Hungary.

Germany-headquartered PV manufacturer SolarWorld has had a record efficiency for a PERC solar cell of 21.7% independently verified by the photovoltaic calibration laboratory (CalLab) of Fraunhofer ISE.

Griguol Impianti Elettrici is at an advanced stage of constructing the world’s largest bifacial PV system ‘La Hormiga’ at 2.5MWp in Chile, using technology from Italy-based module manufacturer MegaCell, which is part of Mega Group.

Shi Lei, VP of HT-SAAE, a leading dedicated monocrystalline solar cell and module producer, sees growing demand across multiple markets for high-efficiency modules and explains what is driving its sales growth.

R&D expenditure in 2014 increased by almost US$100 million from the previous year to reach a new record of US$512.75 million from 12 major tier-one PV module manufacturers, PV Tech has historically tracked in its annual PV R&D spending report.

Now that the PV industry has unquestionably entered a new growth phase, all eyes are on which technologies will win through into the mainstream of PV manufacturing. PERC, n-type, p-type bifacial, heterojunction – all have become familiar terms in the ever-growing constellation of solar cell technologies. The question is which will offer manufacturers what they are looking for in improving efficiencies and cutting costs.

Although the past few years have proved extremely testing for PV equipment manufacturers, falling module prices have driven solar end-market demand to previously unseen levels. That demand is now starting to be felt by manufacturers, to the extent that leading companies are starting to talk about serious capacity expansions later this year and into 2015. This means that the next 12 months will be a critical period if companies throughout the supply chain are to take full advantage of the PV industry’s next growth phase.